Chapter 127: Don't Bother Me

Zach and the others stared at Liam in shock for a moment before reacting. They brought him into the club room and helped him calm down and take a look at his wounds.

"Take three deep breaths, Liam. We can't understand anything you're saying. Rierdan was taken? By who? Or what?" Zach managed to stay level-headed and had Liam sit down. Surprisingly, out of everyone in the club, he had the most experience with severe injuries and shock.

It was his own injuries, but still.

Liam did his best to breathe deeply, though he winced in pain when Zach looked at the wound on his shoulder, which appeared to be the worst. It was a deep gash that thick, red blood gushed out of, even after all this time. Liam was a lot paler than he should be.

But he was also a this year and well past level ten. His familiars weren't as high ranked as Zach's, but he was still strong and had a sturdy enough physique that his injuries weren't life-threatening.

"From the beginning now." When Liam finally calmed down enough, Zach urged him again.

"W-we were on our way back after realizing we had gone a little too deep inside when following a strange insect. That's when it happened! Something flew out of the bushes at us!" Fear dyed Liam's expression as he remembered it.

"I-it happened so fast! When I looked around, he was gone! Rierdan is gone! And it's my fault!" Liam wasn't wrong. He had been teamed up with Rierdan because Rierdan was the weakest while he was supposed to be one of the two strongest.

Dukiel put a hand on Liam's shoulder, the mostly uninjured one.

"Calm down. It's not your fault. It's the fault of whatever took him." Dukiel turned to Zach, silently asking for orders.

Zach crossed his arms and leaned back slightly while considering their options. He glanced out the windows. It was already dark outside.

"I want to go look for him at once, but it's dark, and if it's something that can overwhelm Liam, no one is safe except me. A search party right now of only us will not be effective. If anything, we risk getting lost or being taken as well."

"Let's tell Instructor Jarron." Nessa's voice was firm. This was above what they could deal with. They had to get help.

Zach nodded. The others also agreed. The most they could do was hunt monsters. They didn't know how to rescue people.

Zach looked at Liam.

"Go to the infirmary and get yourself patched up. I have a feeling you're going to need to tell us where this happened." Liam nodded and picked himself up. While the others went to find Jarron, he went to the infirmary.

Zach and the others didn't run through the hallways, but they made haste, and the few students still not in their dorms looked at them funnily. They didn't care in the least as they made their way to Jarron's office.

But he wasn't there, so they looked and asked around until they found his room in the teachers' dorms.

Zach pounded the door hurriedly. They had wasted a lot of time trying to find him already.

Jarron opened the door with a disgruntled expression, a sleeping cap on his head that matched his pajamas. He was already ready to go to bed. He looked at Zach up and down and noticed the bloodstains.

"You already know where the infirmary is. If you need help burying a body, look for Kami."

"Wha—? No! That's not why we're here. Rierdan is gone!" Zach shouted and stopped Jarron from closing the door.

Jarron froze for a moment before stopping trying to close the door. He looked at Zach and waited for an explanation.

After Zach's explanation, Jarron nodded slightly once.

"By the sounds of it, he's still alive. If he had been killed, he would have been torn to pieces on the spot. You said Liam was alive, right? Then Rierdan is most likely alive. He probably won't stay like that forever, though. Also, I'm off the clock.

Don't bother me anymore." Jarron kicked away Zach's foot and slammed the door shut before he could react. He leaned his back against the door and slid down to the ground. He rested his head in his hands and ignored the pounding on the door. Finally, it stopped.

Zach and the others couldn't believe what Jarron had just told them. Did he not care about his own students? It was a step beyond simply being unreliable. Jarron was untrustworthy. Stay connected through m_v l-NovelFire.net

But he had still made sense. If whatever had taken Rierdan wanted him dead, he would have been dead already. It was likely Rierdan was taken for a specific purpose. Until that purpose was fulfilled, he would remain alive.

It could be the end of the week. It could be when the sun rose. They couldn't waste any time.

Zach, Dukiel, Julius, Nessa, Anerias, and Violina rushed through the Academy to the infirmary, where they saw Liam get patched up by one of the students working the evening shift.

He could tell at once from their expressions that they weren't bringing good news. He had been hopeful, but he already knew that the instructors had a detached attitude. They were at the Academy to instruct, not save the students' asses whenever they asked for it.

Zach's grades and the havoc he brought to the forest weren't the only things that stood out during their first year. He was the only one in their class who experienced a serious injury worthy of note. He even died. If that hadn't happened, it would have been the first year in a while without incident.

The instructors hadn't warned them in their first year about dying because they were trying to scare the students. They were worried about them.

But in situations like these, that worry didn't mean anything.

Zach and the others were on their own. Sёarᴄh the NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

They could rope in the rest of the class, but the instructors wouldn't budge. And roping in the rest of the class wouldn't do much.

Most of the useful people were already in the club. The three A-ranks, the only one with an underworld familiar, and Zach.

With a squad like that, they had all they needed, and they instantly set out into the forest.